Halt brain drain

In an interview we published yesterday in our business pages Chairman EMP Group of Companies Chandrananda Diyunuge spoke of the dearth of professional engineers in the country. He said, "the brain drain has created a hindrance to the development of industries. Professionals are migrating to other countries and there is difficulty in finding professionals such as engineers for the industries." He called on the Government for urgent steps to stem the exodus of professionals such as engineers.

This concern expressed by a professional engineer himself on the dangers posed by the exodus of engineers calls for some serious thinking on the part of the authorities. This is specially so since the country has embarked on a gigantic post war development drive that would essentially require skilled personnel and professions such as engineers and architects for the colossal construction work that is being planned.

Paradoxically while the country is facing a dearth of skilled personnel for the construction industry Government Ministers are boasting of the employment opportunities they have secured for our construction workers in countries such as Qatar and South Korea. President Rajapaksa should step in to rein in such Ministers at a time when he himself has sent out a virtual SOS to our skilled professionals and experts overseas to return to the Motherland and avail of their services in the rebuilding process. The Government before long will have to weigh the magnitude of its development programs with the available human resources in the country.

There is no point in drawing up blueprints if there are no skilled professionals to execute these plans. This will be a problem it will have to encounter as the development tempo accelerates with no professionals to complete them.

The Government should therefore set about dealing with this crisis in all earnest. First of all it should strive to retain what is left of our professionals by offering them attractive terms. When the annual budget is prepared special allocations should be made to provide facilities and incentives to professionals such as engineers to retain them in the country. Sadly even in the last budget only certain categories of professionals were given incentive payments such as doctors while others were left out. Even duty free vehicle permits were restricted to those public servants who had put in a specific number of years of service. We are not aware if top-flight professionals such as engineers are entitled to duty free vehicle permits and other concessions extended to public servants. If not steps should be taken to immediately extend this facility and other privileges to all engineers whether they are in public service or not and irrespective of the number of years they have served and without other conditions. Since the number of engineers in the country now represent only a small fraternity according to the EMP Group Chairman this obviously cannot be a huge drain on the Treasury.

In fact if Parliamentarians most of them, without even a basic education are given perks and privileges over and beyond their true worth and who could be easily dispensed with, professionals such as engineers deserve the foremost attention of the authorities given their potential worth to the country.

The education system that was being pursued all these years was also partly responsible for the lack of engineers in the country. Higher education courses and study programs have only now become employment-oriented and geared to producing skilled professionals. How long will this take to produce the required number of engineers to cater to the present demands is anyone's guess.

Even if this is eventually accomplished the challenge no doubt would be to keep them in the country to get them involved in the development programs before these professionals are lured into greener pastures abroad.

Also all causes that hinder their professional advancement in the country should be dealt with while they should be offered an attractive remuneration package and other perks even to match those offered to our legislators. This lack of opportunity for advancement was another reason for mass migration of our professionals that was only exacerbated by the ethnic conflict.

The EMP Chairman recounted his own experience as to how as a budding engineer he was only given responsibility in the firms which hired him but not authority in the execution of his plans which naturally is an impediment to creativity and initiative. It is such action that frustrates professionals compelling them to look elsewhere.

It is therefore time that the Government took a serious view at the looming threat of a country sans the cream of its talent who are availing of their skills to other countries when their expertise is sorely needed in their Motherland.

Ideally a committee comprising the best of intellectuals should be appointed to go into this crisis and suggest remedial measures before things take a turn for the worse and the country loses all its professionals and skilled labour dealing a body blow to the country's post war reconstruction.